Colourful new plants

Watch for some exciting new perennials next spring at your local nursery.

Last weekend, the Kelowna Master Gardeners held their fall meeting and AGM and were fortunate to have Ken Salvail as the speaker. Salvail is a long-time co-host on a weekly radio garden show, owner of KHS Landscaping and has his own informative site at www.growercoach.com

He is an absolute walking encyclopedia of everything gardening but decided to focus his talk on newly-developed perennials coming to market.

I know many of you are probably focused on getting through the holidays and saying, “Enough, crazy plant lady,” but his presentation has me beyond excited for the upcoming growing season.

Plant breeders are responding to the reality that many of us are growing in increasingly cramped spaces, so they are genetically-engineering smaller cultivars of garden favourites.

Some of the first in his presentation that piqued my interest were the new cultivars of Nepeta (Catmint), specifically “Picture Puurfect.”

This new cultivar has all of the benefits of the older varieties—long-blooming, pollinator-magnet, drought-tolerant and deer-resistant. What’s new is it starts blooming about two weeks earlier than our familiar Nepeta, with its larger blooms plus its diminutive stature, at only 10-12 inches tall, allows it to be incorporated into the smallest of garden spaces.

Next, the “Poquito” series of Agastache (Hummingbird mint) from plant breeder TerraNova has succeeded in making a great drought-tolerant plant even better. I planted Agastache “Little Adder” in the Okanagan Xeriscape Association’s West Kelowna demonstration garden on May Street, choosing it mainly for its noted deer-resistance, as that park is frequently browsed by deer.

It was with considerable apprehension that I returned to assess the damage to the garden after the devastating 2023 wildfires and dire water restrictions. To my amazement, the Agastache was completely unfazed by the lack of water and was, in fact, at the time of my initial visit, covered with pollinators.

Poquito is a series of Agastache even shorter than the “Kudos” collection and introduces non-traditional Agastache shades of yellow, rose and orange, all topping out at barely a foot tall.

These Agastache are ideally sited at the front of a perennial bed or in a rock garden. I can’t wait to get my hands on these new cultivars and start trialing them for use in our Okanagan gardens.

Another perennial that has experienced a genetic downsizing is Hybiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon). The Hybiscus syriacus in my master gardener mentors’ garden is a whopping 12 feet high by 12 feet wide—not appropriate for those whose gardens may be little larger than those dimensions.

Welcome the new “Pillar” series of Hybiscus, which was awarded Landscape Plant of the Year for 2023. This new cultivar has all of the attributes of the old faithful, at a fraction of the size. Introduced by Proven Winners, this Hybiscus reaches four feet wide by 10 feet tall, making it a fantastic vertical accent in your landscape.

This late-blooming deciduous shrub comes in purple, rose and white and makes a fantastic hedge favoured by pollinators and hummingbirds. It takes a while for these new cultivars to get to market but I sourced and planted the white version as a hedge for a client last spring and was overjoyed to revisit the property this fall and see how stunning it is becoming already.

I’m sure, during future visits, it will be even more spectacular as it settles in, all the while being xeric, pollinator-friendly and deer-resistant.

You can have a xeriscape garden of any size, and as I always say at presentations or site inspection for clients: you don’t have to do everything at once. Gardening is not a race to the finish but an experience to be savoured over time.

Visit our website at okanaganxeriscape.org and follow us on social media for inspiration about the sustainable beauty that is xeriscape.

The Okanagan Xeriscape Association is grateful for the ongoing financial support of the Okanagan Basin Water Board and is proud to be collaborating with them on the Make Water Work campaign. Check out the Make Water Work plant list at makewaterwork.ca.

Sigrie Kendrick is a master gardener and executive-director of the Okanagan Xeriscape Association.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.